“The Pakistani press often incorrectly reports the names of foreign fighters arrested in the country, especially Arabic noms de guerre,” Arif Rafiq, the editor of The Pakistan Policy Blog, told The Long War Journal.

Gadahn was likely detained in the Sohrab Goth neighborhood in Karachi, Rafiq said. “Sohrab Goth is a major Pashtun area in northern Karachi,” he said. “Many Mehsud tribesmen live there.”

The reported capture of Gadahn comes the same day as As Sahab, al Qaeda’s propaganda arm, released a video of him praising Major Nidal Hasan, the Muslim US Army officer who murdered 13 soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2009.

“Brother Nidal is the ideal role model for every repentant Muslim in the armies of the unbelievers and apostate regimes,” Gadahn said, according to a partial translation provided by CTV.

“Nidal Hasan is a pioneer, a trailblazer and a role-model who has opened a door, lit a path and shown the way forward for every Muslim who finds himself among the unbelievers,” Gadahn continued.

Gadahn also called for additional attacks in the US, mirroring the tactics used by Hassan, but said the attacks should not be limited to US military targets.

“You shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that military bases are the only high-value targets in America and the West,” Gadahn said. “On the contrary, there are countless other strategic places, institutions and installations which, by striking, the Muslim can do major damage.”

The current reports of Gadahn’s capture come as six top leaders of the Afghan Taliban’s Quetta Shura, or executive leadership council, have been detained in Pakistan. The Pakistani military and government have previously denied that the Quetta Shura existed and said no senior Afghan Taliban leaders were present in Pakistan.

The validity of the early reports on this story was being questioned but it appears that the news is true, and that all we’re waiting on this point to make it “official” is a senior US military leader confirming it. Of course, they could be withholding details of the what they know until after they feel he has been, um, sufficiently questioned … sound familiar?

It’s been a good last several weeks for the US military and CIA forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan in terms of the high-level Taliban/AQ operatives who have been captured, arrested, or killed – oftentimes with the aid of Pakistani intelligence agents. And unlike the left, who routinely downplayed and poohpoohed any high value detention or kill of high level Taliban/AQ operatives during the Bush admin – oftentimes saying it was “no big deal” because where one was captured or killed another would take his place – I can acknowledge these victories in the GWOT with my head held high and being happy about it, because in the GWOT, we should all be on the same side: the side that wants the US and their allies in the Middle East to defeat Islamofascism and bury it deeply into the ground.

Related to that, Bill Jacobson notes how some on the left are actually feeling triumphant about today’s news:

This is a fight on which we all should be on the same side.

But wait for it: This proves Obama’s anti-terrorism strategy is better than Bush’s –

What, you mean working with your allies as opposed to trying to run roughshod on them actually works? Who knew? [Political Carnival]

It’s like the commander in chief is focused on fighting terrorism or something. [O. Willis]

Because al-Qaeda terrorists never before have been captured in Pakistan (other than Khalid Sheikh Mohammend and other people we can’t figure where to put on trial).

An “important Taliban militant” was arrested today in Pakistan. But that is where the confusion started.

Earlier it was reported by Pakistani media that intelligence agents had arrested Adam Gadahn, the American-born spokesman for al Qaeda, in an operation in the southern city of Karachi.

It was further reported by the Associated Press and Reuters that Gadahn had been arrested, sourcing security officials.

CBS News was told by sources in the Pakistan government that it was Gadahn, even after U.S. officials refused to confirm it was the California native for whom a $1 million reward has been posted.

Now, CBS News’ Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad writes that earlier reports the detained individual was Gadahn proved false. According to a Pakistan security official who spoke with CBS News on condition of anonymity, the arrested individual is in fact “a Taliban militant leader who is known as Abu Yahya.”

The official said evidence compiled from an interrogation of the suspect and information exchanged with U.S. officials verified the man’s identify.

The reassessment only added to the confusion surrounding the arrest of a man earlier described by other unnamed Pakistani security officials as Gadahn.

“In the light of our latest information, I can say, this is not looking like Gadahn. But it is still the arrest of an important Taliban militant,” said the Pakistani security official who spoke to CBS News late Sunday.

The New York Times, sourcing American and Pakistani officials, reports that the man arrested was Abu Yahya Mujahdeen Al-Adam, and describes him as an al Qaeda commander who was born in Pennsylvania.

Western diplomats in Islamabad, responding to the latest twist to this increasingly confusing saga, said the arrest is not insignificant. “Even if this is not Adam Gadahn, it is still not an unimportant development. But let’s hold our breath before we come to a final conclusion. We may be groping in the dark ’til someone, especially the Pakistanis who are holding this man, agree to present him publicly,” said one western diplomat in Islamabad who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity.

The big question, of course, was he Mirandized? Hope so, ’cause Eric H will make sure he gets a judge in a criminal trial that’ll throw the case out if he wasn’t. That’s Eric’s job, you know, protect all citizens.